


Festering Hope

by SpireofBone



Series: FH AU [5]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Angst, Drama, Everyone Needs A Hug, Found Family, Gen, I had way to much fun developing warframes, Sentient Warframes, Shale needs a hug and a vacation, Sign Language, big AU time, tags over time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24158392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpireofBone/pseuds/SpireofBone
Summary: Catalyst had no way of knowing what she would get into when she was pulled from stasis without her memory. She's tested to a strange and unfair world with weird killer hivemind robots and money cults. As she recovers her memory, Catalyst also uncovers the mysterious past of everyone around her.at first, she thinks that it's fine, and nothing bad could happen.but that's never how things work. Fate sure does have a way of toying with people.The AU info will be covered in the fic itself.
Series: FH AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593244
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. (Prologue) Whispers

Somewhere, a child looks for an entrance.  
The child has been to the building that they are trying to enter before, but the constant shifting of the terrain has blocked off the entrance the child remembers.   
Next to the child, a sentient keeps watch.  
The sentient has seen more then it cares to admit and has been harmed even more than that. It has left many people behind, but almost everyone has.   
Inside the building, a Volt waits.  
The Volt remembers the building well and thinks highly of it. It knows of a better entrance, but the Child dismissed it. Unwilling to bother anyone, it waits where it knows the Child will appear eventually.  
Far away, on a frozen wasteland, a Nezha waits as well.  
The Nezha knows what it is waiting for. It is stuck on the wasteland, but it hopes that it can get out soon. It knows patience through experience waiting for other important things.  
In a Station, A Mirage and a Dax sort bandages.  
The Mirage holds many secrets, all of which the Dax knows. The Dax has done some terrible things, and so has the Mirage. They get along in their shared sins.  
In a forest, a Titania stops at a broken log.  
The Titania is visiting its dead sister, who’d been enveloped in the forest’s flowery embrace. It would visit it’s other sister, but it doesn't like that one.  
In a Dojo, a Loki is created.  
The Loki has secrets but is more truthful than the Mirage. It takes pride in this. Too much pride, one might say.  
On a rock, a sentient looks for its sibling.  
It knows that its sibling is in this system and that it is partially its fault for not keeping better track of them. But it is also it’s sibling’s fault, for being reckless.  
In a cryopod, a Catalyst sleeps.  
The catalyst does not know it yet, but it will connect all these loose threads. It will trigger change, whether it likes it or not. And soon, the Catalyst will awaken.


	2. Awoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After who knows how long of a slumber, Catalyst wakes up.

A sentient named Niphit watched the structure above her shake. Lua wasn’t stable and hadn’t been in a while. Behind her, a Volt named Solar drew his weapon.

“ _ Do you see any signs of Mimics?”  _ Solar asked. 

Niphit glanced around. “One or two, a distance from here.” she kept her eyes on the shimmering locker. 

“ _ How loud can we be?”  _ Solar whispered. Niphit slowly backed closer to Solar.

“Not very loud,”

“ _ Great.”  _ Niphit heard Solar shuffle in place a little. Suddenly, a power tree down the hall went up in sparks and fire. Solar lowered his Dex Sibaris as the sentient drones clustered around the flaming plant. “ _ Follow me, we’re the distraction.”  _ Niphit just nodded, preparing to sprint. 

Solar walked towards the burning plant, shifting his coloring to a much more threatening black and orange. He drew his Octantis, holding it up to Niphit. Niphit watched the weapon, but also Solar. He seemed confident. The Mimics swiveled to face the pair. Niphit spotted about three, with familiar coloring.

“ _ I got someone you might want.”  _ Solar chirped. He pressed the sword against Niphit’s side and brought his shield closer to his body.

“Niphit!” The other sentient spoke. Solar almost detected emotion.

“And I know them.” Niphit whispered to him. “Her name is Tyan. She’s my older sister.”

“ _ I have your sister,”  _ Solar barked, “ _ Leave or she gets killed.”  _ Niphit cringed internally from Solar’s poor attempt at threats.

“I’ll kill you first,” Tyan spoke back. Suddenly, a massive, wolf-like creature burst through the wall. the snarling sentient beast lunged after the pair, the glowing razors attached to its front feet and head sparked as they met the floor. Solar grabbed Niphit’s arm and bolted. Niphit took to hovering since Solar’s speed buff seemed to affect that too.

“ _ Ok, so, new plan. Lead Tyan away from the Oasis.” _

Catalyst didn’t know what was happening. Her eyes were heavy, her joints ached. She listened for her Man In The Wall, Chime. Nothing. The pod she was in was cramped.  _ Who am I?  _ Catalyst thought with a jolt.  _ Who’s Chime? What’s happening?  _ Catalyst tried struggling, but whatever she was in was much too small.  _ How did I get here? _

“Calm down, kiddo.” Catalyst heard her own voice whisper. She somehow knew it was Chime. “All this thrashing won’t get you anywhere.”

“Who are-” Catalyst’s mouth filled with the water in the capsule.

“You don’t remember me?” Chime asked. “After all this time?”

“I named my own reflection Chime.” Catalyst remarked, pushing her self up to keep the water from flowing in her mouth. The inside of the pod was lightly illuminated and she could see her reflection above her. “I’m talking to myself. What’s up with my eyes?”

“No, that’s me! I’m your Man In The Wall.” her reflection hissed. “There’s no room to actually manifest, so a reflection will have to do. I am not you. There’s something coming and-”

“Where am I? Who am I?” Chime sucked in a breath.

“You are a Tenno, a combination of void and physical matter chewed up and spat out in a child’s body. And I don’t know where we are since I am directly bound to you. Now will you listen?” Chime was getting impatient.

“Yes! Maybe!”

“Good enough. Something’s opening your transference pod soon, and you need to land on your feet and run until I can tell you if it’s safe. Can you feel your legs?”

“Yes, I can move them.” 

“Good. try jumping the fold as soon as it open-” Chime was cut off by the pod opening. Catalyst rolled out, getting onto her feet as quickly as possible. She darted off, unable to catch a glimpse of her pursuers. A copy of herself flickered into existence next to her.

“Keep running. Use the void, just avoid getting caught!” Chime said, flickering along next to her. Catalyst was out of breath already. 

“I-I can’t” Catalyst managed, crumpling to the ground.

“Come on! What happened? You finally wake up and you don’t even know who you are!” Chime tried pulling Catalyst up, but Catalsy’s legs burned, and her lungs felt worse.

A new voice interrupted. “Calm down, oK?” Catalyst looked up to see a cloaked teen. Behind her, a deer-like suit of armor stood. “I’m trying to help you.”

“I thought you were going to kill me or something,” catalyst panted. The teenager scoffed.

“Ignore that pesky copy of yourself. They normally don’t have anything to say.” 

“Don’t listen to her.” Chime said. “I want to help you.” Catalyst looks from the teenager to Chime. On the one hand, Chime seemed to have good intentions. On the other hand, it was a weird, seemingly magical, copy of her that spouted words she didn’t know.

“Do you want to get out of here alive?” The teen asked. Catalyst paused.

“Yes.” 

  
  


“How much longer until we can retreat?” Niphit asked Solar. Tyan stalked the room they where hiding in, looking for her prey.

‘ _ Until Mae gives us the signal to go”  _ Solar chirped back. He pressed himself deeper into the hole he was hiding in. “ _ go”  _ Solar chirped quickly, darting out of the crevice. Niphit took off after him. Tyan whirled around, damaging the walls in the presence. The two ran as quickly as they could, but Niphit could tell Solar’s strength was waning. 

“How much longer do you think you can last?” Niphit asked, still weightlessly floating off the ground.

“ _ Not much longer, but Mae should get everyone out soon.”  _ Solar chirped back. Niphit nodded, then darted to the side to avoid one of Tyan’s attacks. Niphit realized with a jolt that this is what Tyan wanted. She was separated from Solar, so it would be easier to hunt her down. Niphit zipped down the nearest hallway. 

This was a loyalty test.

She could do it. She just had to avoid Tyan.

The teen, who’s name was Mae, dragged Catalyst through the halls quicker then she could move her legs. Catalyst collapsed as soon as Mae paused, wheezing. 

Mae glanced down. “We need to keep going.”

“I can’t. My legs.” Catalyst wheezed. Mae didn’t show any sympathy.

“Well, I can’t go any slower. If it’s that bad, I’ll have O carry you.” A person in deer-like armor stepped over, slinging a gun over one shoulder.

“Okay,” Catalyst spoke, still out of breath. The person in the deer armor picked her up, before taking off towards the ‘extraction’ point. Catalyst almost fell asleep several times, only to be jostled awake by O’s movement. 

“What is it?” Mae barked as a different person in armor. Whoever it was chirped, causing Catalyst to jump. O chirped back.

“Where’s Niphit?” Mae asked. The new person in armor chirped a bit more. Mae cussed.

Niphit swerved around, there was nowhere left to go. She was cornered, and Tyan was fast approaching. Niphit unsheathed the claws in her frontmost pair of arms. The glowing blue razors weren’t made for much other then disarming traps or opening drones, but would work in a pinch. The mass that was Tyan lunged around the corner, staring Niphit down.

“Why are you here?” Tyan asked. Her voice cold and metallic, as usual.

“Better question, why are you here?” Niphit asked back.

“Because orders from Hunhow,” Tyan said. “But why are you here?”

“Because I’m being helpful.” Niphit crossed her arms. “And I need to go.” Niphit tried to fly off, but Tyan stepped in front of her.

“Niphit, where are you going? Why would you need to go?” Tyan paused. “Why was there a Volt with you?”

“I need to go! Please? I seriously gotta go. And I don’t know the Volt,” Niphit lied. Tyan could tell. 

“Niphit, you look terrible. You disappeared for three months, and now you get threatened by an Aphid. Which you clearly know. How am I supposed to let you go when I don’t know where you are going?” Tyan asked, blocking Niphit’s escape again.

“Tyan, please, let me live! I’ll do what I want,” Niphit snapped.

“Niphit, I want you to know what’s going on.” Tyan stepped in Niphit’s path again.

“Fine. I moved out.” Niphit crossed her arms. “I’m going to live in a station with a bunch of really cool people.” 

“What kind of people?” Tyan asked. Niphit watched her carefully.

“Tenno,” Niphit said. Tyan didn’t move. Niphit darted away while Tyan was frozen. 

“Hey! I’m fine!” a new, metallic voice asked. Catalyst couldn’t see them. The pink armored person seemed to sigh.

“Good! I was about to leave. You can explain yourself later. We need to go!” Mae barked over the roar of the extraction pad. Catalyst felt herself get thrown onto the ship. Chime appeared in front of her.

“Buckle up!” Mae shouted again.

“Let’s hurry.” the metallic voice was almost lost over the ship revving up.

“Niphit, we can outspeed a sentient. Hold on to something!” Catalyst was unprepared. The resulting jolt flung poor Catalyst into a wall, knocking her out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mae belongs to my brother.  
> also I'm back! I was hoping to release this sooner but life (and Glassmaker) happened lol.


	3. Chats & Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catalyst gets to learn a little about what the hell is going on. Niphit feels sad and tries to play Kommie with Solar. Shale and Flower show off basic medical knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Return of me updating late! I'll try my best to keep at the once a week updates, but life's kinda crazy right now.

Catalyst woke up to the sound of yet another person talking. Upon opening her eyes, Catalyst saw that Mae was on some sort of call with someone else, who seemed annoyed. The pink-armored person sat next to a deer-fox-robot thing, playing some sort of bord game. O sat in silence, while a butterfly-like armored person, who couldn’t be older than nine, slept in the corner. Chime wasn’t in sight. 

“Why’s everyone in armor anyways?” Catalyst asked groggily. Suddenly the whole room turned to look at her.

“Oh, yeah. That part.” Mae said as she turned off the call. “Meet the warframes! They are infested suits of armor and alleged meat puppets that do all the work for us! There’s like, forty different kinds of warframe. My personal favorite is Oberon.” 

“So are they humans? Where did they come from?” Catalyst asked.

“Nah. I think out of the ones here, Tin and Solar were around or the Orokin era?” Mae responded. The pink one, who was probably Solar, chirped.

“That’s almost all the warframes here, Mae.” the deer-fox-robot corrected. 

“Thanks, Niphit.” Mae scoffed. “I just forgot Estue, Khyra, and Shale aren't here.” 

O chirped and Mae sighed. “So I know a lot of primes.”

“Do Warframes… speak?” Catalyst asked. There was some chirping among the various warframes.

“Nah. They can’t make human noises without translators. But translators are expensive as Void so you ether use transference or ask someone who knows.” Mae shrugged.

“And what’s Niphit?” Catalyst pondered, watching the creature play its board game.

“Easy. she’s a sentient, which is basically a hivemind robot. Niphit, would you care to introduce yourself?” Mae asked. Niphit didn’t respond until Solar poked her.

“Oh, sorry. I was caught in this game of Kommi.” Niphit responded, “I’m a sentient, I just kinda… exist? Not the best example.” Niphit went back to her board game. Solar pated Niphit on her shoulder

“Ok, so, anything else I should know?” Catalyst asked. Mae nodded. 

“There are more specifics that Flower will teach you. I can explain other stuff though!” 

Niphit seemed distant. Ether this game of Kommi was very interesting, despite nether Solar or Niphit knowing how to play, or that encounter with Tyan really shook her. Niphit placed a stone. 

“ _ How are you doing?”  _ Solar asked as he placed a kommie stone. Niphit paused.

“I’d rather talk about that…” Niphit whispered, glancing at the new tenno, “somewhere else.” she finished. Solar nodded. 

“ _ Ok, follow me.”  _ Solar picked the Kommie board up carefully as if they were just moving the game somewhere else. Niphit noticed Solar’s limp more now that there wasn’t any rush.

“Is your leg ok?” Niphit asked. She felt a twinge of guilt for not noticing how painful it looked. Bart of his hoove was broken off too.

‘ _ It’s fine. I’ve gotten used to it. Redd keeps suggesting that I get helminth to fix it, but that thing scares the hell out of me.”  _ Solar chuckled. 

“But doesn't it hurt?” Niphit asked. She didn’t know much about hooves, but she knew that they shouldn’t be cracked off like that.

“ _ It doesn't matter. I can deal just fine. Now, more importantly, what happened with Tyan?” _

Niphit paused. “We had a fight. I told her that I’m with the tenno now. She didn’t say anything.”

“ _ You don’t have to deal with Tyan. just don’t talk to her.”  _

“But I don’t want to leave her all alone.”

_ “Didn’t you mention a few other family members?” _

_ “ _ Oh! Flix and Adezu. I forgot about them,” Niphit remembered. “Tyan does talk to them. Sometimes.”

“ _ She’ll be fine _ .” Solar paused, “ _ and I’m more concerned about you, anyways. _ ”

“I’m fine, but can we stick here for a bit longer?” Niphit didn’t really feel like dealing with the other people on the ship. Solar nodded.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, a mirage hears a call coming in. Shale twisted around from her paper. In her spare time, Shale enjoyed poetry. Although, it had been awhile since she was let anywhere near paper. Shale fiddled at the translator clipped around her neck. Useful for communicating, but uncomfortable as hell.

“Can you get that?” Shale’s operator, a Dax named Flower, asked. Flower was packing a couple of first aid kits for a defense mission in planning.

“Okay,” Shale responded. She picked up the call, it was from Mae.

“Catalyst is all faint headed and weak, what-” Shale cut her off.

“Dehydration and muscular atrophy. All the tenno have that fresh out of the pod.” Shale was about to hang up again.

“Ok, but what do we do about the muscle thing?” Mae obviously liked talking to Flower more. Good.

“Redd’s problem, I’m for in-the-moment stuff.” Mae hung up.

“She didn’t listen the last eight times.” Flower mumbled. 

“In Mae’s defense, this is the first time that she has given a tenno a concussion.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

“No one here’s a f...heckn’ saint.” Shale corrected herself before swearing.

“The Lotus isn’t going to kill you for cussing anymore.” Flower said.

“The small one might.”

“Tin?”

“No.”

“Solar? He's taller than you.”

“No.”

“Oh! Niphit?”

“That one.”

“Niphit physically could not hurt you.” Flower scoffed.

“She’s got those claws. And determination.” Shale returned to her paper.

“You’re just paranoid,” Flower responded. Shale focused on her writing.

“But for good reason.”

“My head still hurts.” Catalyst whined. She feebly sipped at the cup of water offered.

“That’s from hitting it,” Mae responded. Tin chirped.

“Anyways, gotta transition the subject to stuff going on in the world.” Mae pulled out a collection of papers. “Take this.”

“A… history lesson?” Catalyst wondered.

“How else are you going to learn it? If you have questions, ask any of the warframes.” Mae promptly left Catalyst to her history packet and cup of water. Catalyst watched a butterfly land on the rim of her glass. The insect was blue and red, with gold trimming around its wings. Catalyst gently scooped it up.

“How’d you get here?” she asked it. How did she know what a butterfly was? The butterfly didn’t respond. It just flapped its wings. Catalyst looked back at her stack of papers. It looked like whoever made it was thirteen and had no clue how to design readable papers. Her headache wasn’t helping. Catalyst sighed. Considering that no one here other then Mae seemed capable of communication, this might be her only chance to get an explanation. Catalyst set down the butterfly and got to studying.


	4. Early Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niphit learns about drama, and Catalyst ponders warframes at three am.

Niphit was the first off of the Orbiter, carrying some stolen supplies. It was currently the night-cycle on Talon Clan Station, as well as the Orbiter. And Sentients only sleep when injured. The little robot chose to float back to her lab, in order not to wake anyone up. Thinking about it, Niphit dropped to the ground and kept walking. Startling a tired, on-edge warframe was only going to end in pain. Better if they could hear her coming. She reached a room with an elevator inside. She tapped on a nearby console, hoping that the elevator would arrive quickly. Niphit shifted her crate between arms, making sure that at least one of her clawed front arms was free at all times. The station around Niphit was quiet. Only the sounds of the station’s mechanics. Suddenly, a transmission played over the intercoms. Niphit jumped, almost dropping her crate. It was sentient, but she couldn’t make out which one. Was there another sentient with Talon Clan or was this the announcement of an invasion? Before Niphit’s mind could run even further, of course, a warframe who had been in the elevator spoke up.

“ _ One of Natah’s pre-recorded messages. No one has bothered to turn them off yet.”  _ it was a Zephyr. Niphit carefully stepped into the elevator.

“I am just now realizing that I never knew what Natah looked or sounded like.” Niphit thought aloud.

“ _ I’ve heard about you.”  _ The Zephyr said after an awkward silence as the elevator traveled up.

“Apparently I’m quite popular,” Niphit responded. “Can’t see why. I’m not very interesting.”

“ _ Sentients are quite a big deal. Also, Solar’s weird so if he gets protective of something, people prod.” _

_ “ _ I thought that not a lot of people talked to him,” Solar had never come off as someone who was brought up in conversation frequently.

‘ _ How could we not talk about him? A quiet Orokin-era warframe who’s operator died for a mysterious reason that’s only known by a tight group of people. And said operator was the kingpin in a deadly pack of warframes who only barley followed the lotus. Of course, there are rumors!”  _ The Zephyr laughed.  _ “I think Shale did it, personally.”  _

“What?”

“ _ Shale killed Solar’s operator. He’s so jumpy around her.” _

_ “ _ Maybe because Shale’s just scary.”

“ _ Of course you’d call her scary, she was a trained sentient killing machine. Really, she’s just a mess now. Really sad, actually. We only keep her around since The Lotus said she’d give answers or something. Her operator is more likely to hurt something then her.” _

_ “ _ So why would you think that Shale killed someone?”

“ _ You don’t? She’s threatened everyone at least once. What’s stopping her from following through on it?” _

“A basic moral code?” 

“ _ You really think that the early warframes had those? Those things where pure killing machines. I heard a rumor that Shale killed the only other Mirage Prime during the Orokin era.” _

“I don’t think that’s what the first warframes were. I learned-” The Zepher interrupted Niphit.

“ _ The Lotus told Mae all about the early warframes when we got Shale. She said that they were designed to be more aggressive, and Shale was known to attack her own kind. Nothing stopping her from killing a kid.”  _ The elevator door opened and Niphit left quickly. She was pretty sure that the Zepher was incorrect, but Shale being one of the first warframes… that was new.

  
  


Catalyst was the second to wake up. She looked around the dark ship with bleary eyes, at the various sleeping warframes. Most of them had lights built into their armor, so the room was faintly illuminated. Catalyst noticed Solar move from his spot. Solar noticed her right back and waved. Catalyst scooted over, sitting in front of the Warframe.

“Do you even sleep?” Catalyst asked. She didn’t know exactly what time it was, but it seemed late. Solar cocked his head and chirped. Catalyst remembered that he couldn’t talk. “I’ll take that as a no then”

She thought about the events leading up to this situation, and how she couldn’t remember anything. This world seemed so, so strange. Catalyst sighed.

“I know you can’t respond, but did you wake up, spontaneously?” She knew that Solar had to have come from somewhere. “Or, were you born? Did you use to be a kid? The way Mae described you, you sound like a robot.” Catalyst sighed. “The lesson didn’t help.” 

Solar made a reassuring noise. Catalyst glanced over, only to watch him say something in sign language. The warframe realized pretty quickly that Catalyst didn’t know sign language, and returned to sitting and listening. 

“It must be hard if most people won’t know what you are saying. Niphit can understand you, and the other warframes can. But that’s it. It must be lonely sometimes.” Solar chirped. Catalyst glanced at him. The Warframe’s helmet was unexpressive as always, she couldn’t even read emotion from the two pairs of sunken eyes, hidden behind the armor. “I should go back to sleep.” Catalyst mumbled. She curled up again, hoping that the morning would bring answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm late again. I'm probably going to change my update deadline from once every seven days to once every ten days since that's easier to maintain.


	5. Stargazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shale talks about her problems, and how she despises the clan she lives in. and also Catalyst is in here too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay everyone! I didn't have time to update on time, and I just bearly managed to squeeze time for this chapter in. I'll try my best to stick to schedule and tell you guys when I can't update. unfortunately, FH AU isn't the only thing I do anymore like it was when I started Tales and Blunders, since stuff is reopening.

Catalyst woke up in the ship she had fallen asleep in. Solar hadn’t moved, but the rest of the warframes had left. Upon noticing that she was awake, Solar stood, and gestured for her to follow. Catalyst got up and wandered over to the warframe. Just as she was about to ask a question, a ramp slid down from the roof and Niphit walked in.

“Hey Solar and other human!” She seemed cheery. “You’d better get to where ever the humans eat, Mae told me that the organic beings are quite hungry today!” Catalyst could have sworn she picked humor up in the robot’s voice. 

“Are you always like this?” Catalyst asked. The weird crest on Niphit’s head twitched. 

“I was attempting humor, not something I’m used to. I know that you have called yourself ‘Catalyst’ since the Orokin, and I know that Catalyst isn’t your real name.”

“Do you actually know?” Catalyst stared in shock. “Tell me! I genuinely thought it was Catalyst!”

“Don’t know.” if Niphit could sigh, she almost sertently would. “Only some Orokin databanks are available to all sentients.”

Solar interrupted the two of them. Catalyst realized that Niphit could actually understand the Warframe’s bird-like speech. 

“Nevermind this conversation, there is actually food for you that might disappear. Just follow Solar, he knows the way.” Catalyst’s stomach grumbled, right on time. Solar waved, and lead the way. 

  
  


Shale normally managed to steal time away to herself around this time. The Mirage would slink into the observatory, and sit. Enjoying the view, and the quiet. The metal under her legs was cool, along with the air itself. Shale wasn’t sure if the station was physically warm, or the near-constant threat of being kicked out if she disagreed with one of the warframes was what made everything so stuffy. At least the observatory was empty. She heard someone come in. it was probably Flower. The operator hovered awkwardly next to Shale.

“ _ Aren’t you eating?”  _ Shale didn’t turn to look at Flower.

“I felt you starting to get anxious, and I feel bad leaving you here.” Flower sat down, still a little ways behind Shale.

“ _ What happened isn’t your fault. You don’t need to watch me.”  _

“Which event are we talking about, Shale?”

“ _ The one where I died. It wasn’t your job to save me, and you couldn’t tell the Lotus not to blab out most ofl my personal info.” _

“I could have written a note.”

“ _ I’m supposed to be the one protecting you, Flower. Besides, it happened years ago, and at least I’m alive.” _

“That’s not what you’re concerned about though.” 

“ _ You’re right.” _

“It’s Flick, right?”

_ “Man, all right. Almost like you live in my head.” _

“It’ll be fine. We just have to not be obnoxious and we’ll be fine.”

“ _ But for how long? It’s not like Flick will magically start trusting us after awhile. I can’t live here for years, not able to openly express concerns or avoid situations without being called out as suspicious or even try helping Solar-” _

“He won’t let you help Solar?” Flower scooted in front of Shale. Her face was creased with worry.

“ _ Around the same time that Mae found Niphit, me, Solar, and Tin but controlled by Flick went out on a mission. I think it was a Grineer spy. We each split up so one person covered each data bank. I got done first, and Solar was struggling so I decided to help him out. We accidentally triggered the alarms, I told Solar to make a break for it while I hacked into the data vault. When I got out, he had caught his injured hoof on something and fallen. That re-opened it, so I cleared the area and tried to bandage it. At this point, Not-Tin realized that we were taking a while and something went wrong, so he called us. Solar answered, and explained what was happening. Not-Tin showed up and told me to stop trying to keep solar from bleeding out, and that trying to help him was Redd’s job and that I could have done something wrong.”  _ Shale ranted. Flower stayed and listened, nodding occasionally. 

“So Flick doesn't like you to the point where he thinks that you would try hurting Solar.” 

“ _ It’s ridiculous! The only people here who wouldn’t mind to see him in pain are Threa and Flick himself.”  _ Shale sighed and stared back out into space. 

“You didn’t say Niphit.”

“ _ Just because I don’t trust her doesn't mean that I think she hates Solar. She’s definitely attached to him.”  _ There was a long pause. Shale traced the indents in the floor with her finger. “ _ You should go back to the dining hall. I don’t want you getting hungry.” _

“Before I go, I got you something.” Flower handed Shale a single slice of bread. 

“ _ I appreciate the thought, but I can’t eat.”  _ Shale realized that Flower had already left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shale is one of my favorite characters to write, just because of her backstory and personality. This is her only 'big' appearance for a while, but she'll be VERY important later on.


	6. Objective Accepted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catalyst gets put on an importent mission, only to learn that her fellow squadmates are uncooperative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay! (again) that time was just on me, I had a bunch of things that don't really keep me from writing, but slow me down. I'll try writing multiple chapters in advance when I get the chance so stuff like this doesn't happen as often.

Catalyst didn’t expect to wake up to someone pounding on the door. She had been given a room after breakfast, and spent the rest of the day learning history. Mae and another tenno, Flower, where the ones lecturing, but Catalyst hadn’t really been paying attention. After hours of getting talked at, Catalyst got to head to dinner. On the trip there, she had met Flower’s ill-tempered warframe. She also met Niphit again, although the little sentient was busy.

“Are you alive in there?” Mae shouted from the other side of the door. Catalyst grumbled and pulled herself up. She opened the door. Standing outside was Mae, Solar, and another tenno who she hadn’t met before.

“I’m alive.” Catalyst answered. Solar chirped.

“Ok, good. Follow me, I’ll explain as we go.” Mae started walking, the other tenno and Solar following soon after. Catalyst had to jog to keep up.

“I’m flick, by the way.” The other tenno spoke. “I’m this clan’s overlord.”

“Yep. And we’ve got a mission for you. You know Solar?” Mae asked. Solar chirped again. “Right, he’s walking with us. So basically, Solar has a boyfriend named Letters who’s been missing for a few years now. We know vaguely where he is, but your first mission is going to be finding him.”

“By myself?” Catalyst heard about how hostile the planets where.

“Of course not. Your job is to keep the actually useful individuals from killing each other. A simple job for you, I would assume.” Flick spoke.

“Well, at least it’s a nice thought that you want Solar to be happy.” Catalyst grumbled.

“Oh, I’m not doing this for Solar. Solar just knows how to get Letters to listen. I’m doing this because Letters is skilled in combat and it would be a mistake to let him fall into enemy hands. Considering how the Corpus have been moving lately, I don’t think we have much time.” Catalyst looked at Solar. Was that really all Flick cared about?

“Door. Solar, Catalyst, you two go in. inside, Tin, Niphit, and Shale will be waiting.” Mae interrupted. Solar entered first, then turned around to wait for Catalyst. She sucked in a breath and walked in.

“I believe we’ve met.” Flower’s warframe, Shale, asked. Catalyst wanted to smack her head into the table. Of course, she would have to deal with that neurotic fossil.

“Yes. yes we have. Yesterday, when I asked why you had tea when you clearly don’t have a mouth you asked who I worked for and ran off.” Catalyst rubbed her temples. Shale mumbled something about the tea being warm.

“Well, that is quite the introduction,” Niphit spoke. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is going on and why did I have to sit in a room with nothing but a child-sized warframe between me and a certain very threatening Mirage Prime?”

“Very good question.” Catalyst had overlooked the little butterfly-like warframe sitting with them, who must be Tin. “ first, translators have been lent to all warframes here for ease of communication. Not an answer to Niphit’s question, but still important. The answer to what is happening is that we are going to get the Nezha known as Letters back from the Orb Vallis.”

“I also got a question, who’s Letters?” Shale piped up. 

“Solar’s romantic companion? The mute one who kept trying to but heads with other warframes, but you where too much of a scaredy-cat to fight? I wouldn’t expect you to remember him since you were too busy hiding from anyone who tried to help you.” Tin snapped. Shale shifted her gaze to the table.

“Letters is a nezha who I am… close to.” Solar spoke. “He was part of Spring’s gaggle of warframes for a while until he disappeared during an incident on the Orb Vallis years ago. Specifically, Spring was killed in a scuffle and O decided to bring me back instead of Letters since Spring was dieing and Mae didn’t want her friend’s final vision to be of me getting left behind. When Flick returned to look for Letters, he was nowhere to be seen.” Solar stared at the wall after finishing his story. Catalyst could hear him sniffle quietly.

“Thank you, Solar.” Tin said. “You’ll find him.” The room was silent for what felt like an eternity. Shale eventually broke it.

“Why am I coming? You know that I’ll just make everything more difficult. And I don’t have any involvement in Solar’s love life. If anything, I’ll just get someone else killed.”

“Because Flick heard that you used to track down escaped Orokin criminals.”

“That’s different. Letter’s isn’t going to avoid us by all means possible. He’s also going to be looking for us. And what’s Niphit doing here?”

“Fine. Sleuth as always.” Tin paused. “Flick put all his lest reliable people together for a mission to ‘build trust’ or whatever. I don’t know, I only deal with that kid because void magic is a bitch.”

“Language,” Solar muttered.

“Solar, the Lotus as you knew her was a scam. Let the boy swear.” Shale hissed.

“Uh, who’s the Lotus?” Catalyst asked.

“Sentient royalty who has betrayed everyone at least once,” Niphit answered. “No one really likes her except Erra and Hunhow.”

“You really didn’t pay attention to those history lessons, did you?” Shale asked. Catalyst shook her head.

“You have your job cut out for you,” Tin told Catalyst. The group was quiet again, with Shale sulking and Solar still zoned out. Niphit was rocking back and forth slightly.

“So like, do I get a packing list?” Catalyst asked. Tin nodded.

“Go get breakfast, afterward Mae will help you with that. Everyone can leave now.” 

The walk to the dining hall was very, very awkward.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shale sends the gang on an easter egg hunt, and then runs off. Also, Niphit makes a new 'friend'.

The first clue that Catalyst got that her mission would be delayed should have been the note slipped under her door in the middle of the night. When the groggy tenno rolled off her cot, the piece of paper caught her attention. She picked it up, reading the writing.

_ Hey Catalyst _

_ I’m going to be gone for a while.  _

_ I left you a puzzle, though. _

_ Go find a dying flower, It will start you out. _

_ Also, get Niphit and Solar I guess. Just don’t tell them about the gift. _

_ Don’t die. _

  * _Shale._



Catalyst blankly stared at the note. Somehow, Shale just decided to up and leave. When there was a very important mission to be done. Catalyst turned over the note and examined the back. There was a stain of something, and also a single human tooth taped to the paper. Catalyst dropped the note, disgusted by the ‘gift’. Or a threat? She’d ask Solar. As if on cue, someone knocked at the door. Catalyst opened it, just to be met by Solar.

“Where’s Niphit?” Catalyst asked. Solar jumped, then adjusted his translator.

“I don’t know. We both got weird notes from Shale, but Niphit’s already trying to figure out what they mean.” 

“Do you know where Shale is?” Catalyst shoved her note into the pocket o her jumpsuit, remembering the words about the tooth.

“You got one too?” Solar cocked his head. Catalyst nodded.

“Yeah, she must have shoved it in between the cracks in the door.”

“I don’t know where Shale went. besides, it might not even be Shale who wrote the notes.”

“What do you mean Shale might not have written the notes? She signed them and everything.” 

“Flower. The other time anything remotely similar to this happened, Flower was the one sneaking messages into people’s doors. And the time before that. And the multiple times before that. I think Shale writes them, then Flower delivers them.”

“She’s done this before?” Catalyst didn’t know what to think. 

“Yep. she’s been leaving scavenger hunts since the old war. That’s how we found her.”

“How did you find her?”

“I didn’t. Mae did, with help from Flower. I just had to bat off the grineer while Mae scanned the area. Then Helmenth put her back together. And I think Natah did something? I can’t remember.”

“Guys! I noticed something!” Niphit seemed to zoom out of nowhere. 

“What is it?” Catalyst got exited. Maybe another note.

“Even better! Flower’s still here!” Niphit seemed scattered as she spoke. She was jumpy today.

“That probably won’t work.” Solar interrupted.

“It’s worth a shot.” Catalyst responded. Solar sighed. 

“Looking for me?” Flower appeared in between the three. Solar chirped, Catalyst jumped, nd Niphit just floated back.

“How did you do that?” Catalyst asked she was about to keep talking when she spotted Chime. The void demon looked back at her.

“Void. anyways, I can’t tell you where Shale went. Sorry to disappoint” Flower kicked at the ground.

“You don’t know?” Niphit asked. 

“Of course I know. I just can’t tell you.” Flower shrugged.

“I told you.” Solar sighed. 

“Solar knows. I’m a Dax, if some person ties kuva to a stick, I have to listen to it. And during the old war, yours truly promised some blue bitch never to say where my warframe was. And anything on my warframe’s person. And where any signs of where my warframe where. I can answer yes or no questions, though! You’ll have to look somewhere else.” Flower winked, then vanished again. Shortly after, Niphit yipped, jumping to the side with a new burn across one of her arms.

“Are you ok?” Solar asked. Niphit shook out the damaged arm.

“I’m fine,” Niphit responded.

“Good. What did your note say?” Catalyst pulled hers out careful to leave the tooth in her pocket. 

“Something about the clue being hidden by a flower? Clearly not the tenno, she’s not dead. probably.” Solar shifted.

“Mine said the same thing!” Niphit piped up.

“I guess we have to find a flower?” Catalyst asked.

“Maybe something to do with Natah. She’s compared to Lotuses a lot!”

“That’s because she was called The Lotus, Niphit.” Solar responded.

“That could still be a clue. Niphit, is Natah considered to be ‘dying’?” 

“Depends on who you ask. The common consensus for a while with the sentients was yes.”

“Great. Solar, do you know of any actual flowers that might be dieing?” 

“Yes, actually. On the top floor, there’s an old greenhouse that no one uses.”

“Great. We’ll split up. I’ll ask around, Niphit can look for stuff that has to do with the Lotus, and Solar can go to the greenhouse.” 

“Got it!” Niphit hopped off, not wasting time on finding clues. Solar just nodded, then walked off.

  
  
  
  


Niphit had a harder time then she bargained for. Beforehand, she had stopped at the her lab. Grabbing the note. On the back of hers, there wasn’t a human tooth. Instead, there was a shard of swordsteel. She carefully pried the scrap off and stuck it in a compartment in her foundry. Now armed with nothing but a note and a steel plank she grabbed in case of emergency, she set off in search of clues. As she expected, the various warframes of the clan did stare. Why shouldn’t they? She had kinda appeared out of nowhere. And it wasn’t that bad, no one was openly hostile. 

Niphit floated along, checking basically every room. The Lotus’ symbol was everywhere. It was normally carved into something, although in many locations there had been an attempt to remove it. Niphit also learned that some doors wouldn’t open for her. More then once, she found herself slamming into the closed door and causing chuckles to ripple through the Warframes in the room. She learned to check if the door would open after the first few collisions. One of the wounds on her snout re-opened from the repeated impacts. 

“ _ What’cha doing _ ?” A warframe behind her chirped. Niphit was attempting to worm her way under a bush. Above the bush, there was a tree with a carving of the Lotus’ symbol

“Mirage Prime left some note. And disappeared.” Niphit pushed herself further under the bush.

“ _ You’re the Sentient that Solar, right? I’m Veril, the Nidus”  _ Veril paused, “ _ By the way, I don’t think Shale’s actually a prime. She’s probably a re-plaited warframe.” _

“Yes. to all those questions, who else would I be?” Niphit kicked herself further under the bush. “Sorry if I seem rude, it’s been a long few hours and my face hurts.”

“ _ Oh, it’s fine! I understand. One time Shale gave me one of her scavenger hunts, and it wasn’t solved by the time she got back.” _

“They are that bad,” Niphit responded. She found the handle of something and began squirming out, holding on tightly. She slid out of the bush holding a case. A few stray leaves still clung to her.

“ _ You are just so cute!”  _ Veril inspected her. Niphit tried not to flinch back as the appendages on Veril’s face twitched. “ _ I didn’t know sentients could get so small.” _

_ “ _ We aren’t supposed too. I’m just weird. Also, a lot of sentients born after The Old War are smaller. There’s just not as many resources to go around.”

“ _ So you’re a child!” _

_ “ _ No. Maybe. Probably not. I’m not even sure if I’m an adult or not.” Niphit wanted to open the box.

“ _ Wouldn’t that be something that your parents-”  _ Veril cut himself off, realizing how dumb he sounded. “ _ Sorry.” _

_ “ _ It’s fine. Yes, they are dead. I have to see what’s in the box, I’ll see you later” Niphit got up and sprinted away. 

  
  


Inside the box, there was a key. There was also a few other scraps of swordsteel and a few teeth of varying origin. Hidden behind the swordsteel, there was a piece of keratin, similar to that of a sheep’s horn. And a note, shoved all the way at the bottom. It read:

_ Hey whoever finds this first, _

_ How’s the clan holding up? How are you holding up? Did Catalyst opt-out yet? _

_ Stuff’s probably going fine on my end. I’m the normal amount of unstable. _

  * _Shale._




	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niphit asks a favor from Catalyst, but the conversation gose off-topic. From that discussion, Catalyst remembers what happened to her first warframe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to do scheduled updates anymore, mostly a combination of school being back and personal stuff.

Catalyst almost never got to wake up on her own. This time, Niphit had knocked on her door. Early in the morning. The case from last week was weird, and Catalyst was still confused. She was increasingly concerned about Shale, though. No one had found any more clues, and there hadn’t been any reports on where Shale might be. And other then that, Solar was apparently not doing very well. The old Volt’s limp had worsened, and Redd wasn’t allowing him to really move around too much. Niphit knocked harder.

“Catalyst! Are you awake?” Niphit called. She sighed into her pillow.

“What time is it?” Catalyst mumbled, just barely loud enough for Niphit to hear her.

“I need your void magic!” Niphit called, “it’s very important!”

“Why can’t Mae or Flower or someone else do that?” Catalyst rolled out of bed.

“Because Mae’s asleep, and Flower doesn't have an amp. And the rest of the tenno might try to kill me. “ Catalyst sighed. Niphit was probably going to keep bugging her. She trudged over to the door, where Niphit was holding a weird, round-ish glowing object.

“Is this from Shale?” Catalyst asked. Niphit shook her head.

“It’s not. Technically, it’s stolen. More like graverobbing, probably.”

“What is it?”

“That one’s easy! It’s a sentient core. There what other sentients use to control other bodies.”

“And how are you going to use it? I thought you couldn’t do that kind of stuff.”

“Thing is, I’ve never actuary tried. My family assumed that I couldn’t, and we didn’t have the resources for spare drones that might never get used.”

“Back up, family? You weren't made in a lab?”

“No one told you? It’s kinda well known.”

“But like, how? You’re all limbs.” 

“Just fry the core so I can leave.” Niphit shoved the core into Catalyst’s hands. She was clearly flustered by that question. 

“And how do I do that?” Catalyst asked. “Better question, how are you going to use it? And why do I need to ‘fry’ it?”

“I need to get the last sentient out of the core. So I need you to use your void powers to basically burn it out.”

“And?” Catalyst raised an eyebrow.

“I want to try to get myself another body.”

“And how do I use my void powers?” Catalyst asked. Niphit looked defeated.

“I don’t know, maybe just wave your hand over it or something? I can’t even come close to the stuff without getting burned, why should I know how to use it?”

“Wait, there’s another sentient in this?” Catalyst glanced at the core, shocked.

“I already told you.”

“Niphit, it’s three in the morning, I’m not the perkiest. Also, you want me to fry up another sentient?”

“It’s fine, whoever that core belongs to is either dead or a jerk.” Niphit seemed entirely to unconcerned about this.

“What if it’s one of you’re family members?” 

“Not likely. I’m an orphan, have been for a while. And it’s probably not my sister.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear about your parents. I wish I knew where mine where.”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Niphit seemed even more uncomfortable.

“Wait, you know?” Catalyst asked. She stepped closer to Niphit. “Tell me.”

“I’m really not the one who should be telling you this.” Niphit glanced around, starting to back away.

“Is it some secret? What happened?” 

“They were killed,” Niphit said quickly. “They died a-” Catalyst cut her off.

“Who killed them? Tell me!” Catalyst found herself suddenly fuming. Who had killed them, her parents which she didn’t even know? She couldn’t remember their names or faces, but she did remember being small, and her father treating a scraped knee while her mother sang softly to her. Why would they die so quickly?

“You did, Catalyst.” Niphit looked like she was about to bolt.

“What?” Catalyst couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t believe it. “How do you know? You don’t know me! You practically just met me! You told me that you don’t have access to information about me!”

“I know because that’s what happens. That’s always what happens. I don’t know the full story but from what I understand-” Niphit tried to explain.

“I don’t care about what you think happened! You don’t know! You weren't there!” Catalyst stormed off.

“Ask Mae. Ask Flower. Hell, even Solar or Tin.” Niphit said. Catalyst paused. “Tenno kill their parents. They never intend on it. But unfortunately, it’s the way things happened.” Niphit’s voice seemed entirely too artificial, how had Catalyst not noticed it before? She sounded to hollow. “When the-”

“Don’t explain anymore!” catalyst yelled. She didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to be a bad person. Besides, Niphit was clearly in the wrong here. Niphit wanted to kill one of her own kind.

Catalyst assured herself that Niphit was lying.

She had to be.

  
  
  


Chime was the first person that Catalyst noticed. The void demon stared at her blankly.

“Please tell me tha-” Catalyst bust out. Chime interrupted.

“No. Niphit’s right. We killed them. They weren’t themselves, you know?” Chime inspected the back of her hand. “Pretty smart of her to pick up on that.”

“We? You helped?” Catalyst was ready to fight the strange shadow copy of her.

“Of course. Both of them went nuts. You had to protect yourself, but you couldn’t do it yourself. I helped. I’ve always helped you. You just can’t remember it.”

“I barely know who you are! Why can’t I just remember?” Catalyst screamed. Chime glazed back at her.

“The reason you can’t remember is because I fucked up. I was supposed to keep you and your warframe when they woke up on Earth. I’m pretty sure your warframe’s name was Cherio or something stupid like that. Since you were fully connected with it, when it died, you had no way of preserving yourself. I tried to save Cherio, for you.”

Somehow, Catalyst remembered. She remembered Cherio, who was a Rino, who bled out under a grineer ship after attempting to solo a mission they weren't prepared for. She remembered reassuring Cherio that they would get out of there. She remembered the horrific, guttural shouting of the ghouls above them. And how Cherio would ask her over and over again if everything would be ok. Every time Cherio asked that he was a bit quieter. Until he didn’t speak again. Because Ghouls had found their hiding place, and clawed apart the half-dead Cherio.

“There was a surprising amount of mortality, with the first Tenno.” A new warframe spoke. They had a translator. At first, Catalyst thought they where Shale. They looked similar.

“How’d you hear that?” Catalyst glanced at the warframe, wiping away tears.

“You’re void demon’s right there. I can hear them. Do you want to talk about it?” The Mirage bent over to Catalyst’s level. Half of her face was covered in pale-blue scars, which spread down to the rest of her side and back.

“Are you ok?” Catalyst sniveled. The warframe looked surprised for a few seconds, then relaxed. 

“Yes, I am. I’m more concerned about you at the moment, do you need anything? I don’t know my way around here, but there should be some benches not too far off.”

Catalyst wiped at her eyes again. “I’ll get back to my room on my own.” she paused. “But can you walk with me?” 

“Of course! Anything to help. I’m Goldie, by the way. You must be Catalyst, Shale told me about you before she ran off.” Goldie glanced behind them.

“You know Shale?” Catalyst glanced at her. Maybe distracting herself from Cherio was the best option right now.

“Yes, I know Shale. I was called into this station a few hours ago in case I knew where she went.”

“I thought there was only one Mirage Prime.” Catalyst remembered being told that that was why Shale was so special. 

“There’s two. I just survived, I guess.” Goldie paused, “But I’m not in good enough condition to provide blueprints.” 

The two arrived at Catalyst’s room. Niphit had left awhile ago. Catalyst must not have run very far. She didn’t want to go back in, along with her thoughts. It was dark, and Chime could show up, could she even sleep? Did she deserve sleep? Catalyst found herself backing into Goldie.

“Do you need anything? I can-”

“Please don’t leave me alone.” Catalyst sobbed. Goldie immediately pulled Catalyst into a hug.

“It’s ok, don’t worry.” Goldie soothed Catalyst. “I’ll stay as long as you need me.” Catalyst snuggled into the warframe’s chest. Goldie found herself cooing to the child, simply being a friendly presence while Catalyst drifted off to sleep. She sighed. Might as well get some sleep too, right?


End file.
